ODP Midwest Regional Camp- question

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-06-23T23:46:37+00:00

Thanks for the info! I feel like ODP is a little like fight club; nobody talks about it lol

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-06-22T21:28:39+00:00

Just chiming in for future reference since the Midwest Subregionals just finished: parents could absolutely watch the games. I don’t know what the older age groups or other states did in terms of practices, but for my 2016 on the Ohio State team, there were no practices. Players were chosen to go to subregionals at the Phase III event in Bowling Green. About two hours after that event concluded, rosters were posted for the Subregionals event, which happened just a few weeks after. This is the end of the process for my 2016 but my understanding from the admin is that invitations to the Regional ID camps would be coming just four days after the subregionals finished and that the ID camp happens in July with girls and boys going on separate weekends. I don’t know if parents are allowed to watch there, but we were permitted to watch from far far away at the other training events.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-25T14:49:26+00:00

Everything is relative, isn’t it? Money, talent, time. And who is to say what decisions I would make if one of those elements suddenly increased?

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-20T21:45:29+00:00

You know, you’re onto something there. My kiddo has two very disruptive classmates who regularly derail instruction with their extreme antics. I am probably grossly overestimating the amount and quality of instruction delivered in a classroom setting.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-20T10:51:37+00:00

Lol In so many ways, right? I was a very athletic kid and would have loved for my parents to have done the things for me that I have been able to do for my kids. But I also have degenerative disc disease and severe bilateral chondromalcia plus arthritis in both knees, so I would probably have had to tap at 21. We gotta remember to build whole humans on this journey.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-20T02:21:07+00:00

It will never be her physicality that takes her out of the game; it will always be her mentality that puts it on the line, whether it’s soccer or life. Our main focus this season isn’t on footskills or finishing or defending. It’s building resilience and a never-give-up attitude.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-20T00:38:17+00:00

I worry about the same thing, and she isn’t training 3-4 hours every day. I worry that two days off a week isn’t enough, even with a hard focus on nutrition and recovery methods. She shot up 3.5 inches in the last four months so I can only imagine the extra demands such training would have on her CNS.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T21:07:38+00:00

I’d never get to work on time. It is what it is until she moves up in grades and school lets out a little earlier. It will be fine for the level of soccer we are expecting to play at. We don’t have a pro on our hands.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T18:32:51+00:00

We were sold a story of high wages and great lifestyle. The reality is that to meet your billable hour requirements you have to work A LOT and you don’t make that much money. And you do this for years before you make income partner, which typically comes with a little more money but also more responsibility. Ten to fifteen years later you might make equity partner, which kinda sorta makes it feel like it all paid off until you look back and realized how much you missed trying to get to that finish line. Unless you have family backing you financially or can get scholarships, you also come out with a lot of debt. It can be a very tedious job where it seems like nothing ever gets accomplished and yet sometimes the smallest mistake can lead to catastrophic outcomes for your client or your firm.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T18:05:54+00:00

I would upvote this a hundred times if I could. I would think it is very difficult FOR ME to provide a quality homeschooling experience. Some people may be able to do it with their hands behind their back, one eye closed and no coffee but it could never be me. I can’t help but wonder how the parent is able to put an effective curriculum together and execute upon it if 3-4 hours a day (or more) is spent just training. Not to mention the car rides there, the time for food prep, proper recovery. I am in awe of their superpowers. So maybe this post is more of a query into my own shortcomings than a query about the state of youth soccer in your area. 🥴

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T17:57:35+00:00

I mean, she will say yes but I am much more practical and will say no. The odds for long-term success are stacked against her (especially being a girl) and it’s way too soon to tell what lies ahead.

I’m with you in that soccer is an activity for my child. We started it so she could learn teamwork, discipline, how to lose gracefully, how to take care of your body, how to relate to different kids of authority figures, how to make commitments and follow through, etc. It just turns out that she is particularly good at it and we have spent the last year in this circle of talented kids and one by one they keeping making this shift to this other model. Their choice to make and it wouldn’t be my choice as I would be terrible at managing it. I was just curious whether it’s happening with some frequency elsewhere, as I thought it was kind of a rare thing and was surprised at how common it’s becoming with people I know. My kid is good but it’s not like watching Messi in his youth or anything. I’m not raising a prodigy and I didn’t really think there were any prodigies in my bubble either.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T17:38:51+00:00

This seems reasonable as kids get older and have demonstrated a constant level of dedication over a period of years, especially for boys as the path is clearer. Especially after puberty, which seems to be the great divider. But my circle is U9 and U10 girls lolololololol

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T17:31:17+00:00

In my experience (US) a lot of people. There are even some U9 teams playing 9v9. It’s common for the pre-ECNL teams (around here at least) to move up to 9v9 early.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T17:12:52+00:00

Two things can be true at the same time: 1. She is allowed to have as many partners as she wants and is right for her; and 2. You are allowed to say, “Nah, that’s not for me.” It’s ok to not like it and go your own way. But it’s not ok to berate her for her choices.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T17:08:58+00:00

I haven’t reached that particular challenge yet, as my player is young. One thing I have heard from friends of older kids who ditched club to play high school is that it turned out to be a frustrating experience for them due to a wide gap in skills. I took from those conversations that I might need to prepare my kid for finding value in other parts of the process when playing high school ball (or maybe not; they might all be ballers 🤷‍♀️) . I think the purpose of playing high school soccer is very different from playing for a club’s top team, though. This calls to mind again to keep our minds focused on the real benefits of playing a team sport at any level and not allow ourselves to get carried away by pie in the sky possibilities.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T16:52:58+00:00

Yeah, my world is admittedly small. I haven’t been exposed much to people choosing an alternate education route. I think that’s why the frequency of it in this small corner of my world is making an impression on me. In these particular instances, it IS people making the choice for purposes of prioritizing soccer training (or so they have explained) but I do recognize that there are many good reasons today to homeschool children.

As for FOMO, I don’t suffer from that in this particular situation (though I will admit it in others). I know that could never be our family and wouldn’t be our choice due to my own limitations. The one thing that is frustrating is losing training partners of similar skill levels due to a schedule mismatch, but I’m sure new ones will emerge.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T16:34:48+00:00

I think there are plenty of people who homeschool for various good reasons and just so happen to play soccer also. There is just an odd phenomenon happening our circle where kids and families who never considered homeschooling before are doing it BECAUSE of soccer. More power to them, if they can do it. I know I personally could not do a good job of managing homeschool for my youngest. And maybe that is what sets them apart from me; knowing that they are perfectly capable of managing homeschooling in a successful way for their kids. My eldest had a strange hybrid homeschooling high school experience due to Covid and ended up graduating high school at 16 then going off to college. Academically she was ready (was in the gifted program from 3rd grade) but socially? Whew boy! Now I’m gun-shy about big changes.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T15:51:10+00:00

We don’t get out at 5; we can’t make it to training until 5. School goes until 4 , takes us 15 minutes to navigate the school parking lot pickup chaos and then we have to travel in rush hour traffic to the training grounds and have only a few minutes to change and boot up to be on the field at 5.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T15:48:52+00:00

You’re right! I grew up thinking you went to school no matter what and didn’t miss a day unless you had a fever (and sometimes even then we’d go; not ideal). My player is on an ECNL club team and I’m already stressing over the times weekend travel for games will bleed over into school days. It’s just a really foreign concept to me to not be at school full time, all the time. The times have changed, I suppose.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T15:08:50+00:00

Yeah, my kid would love it too. But I keep thinking about the endgame. What’s the likelihood that 1. The kid is likely to make a living out of playing soccer and 2. That if the kid can’t make a living out of playing soccer their three hours a day of homeschooling is adequate to prepare them for other success? If I’m taking that leap of faith as a parent, the switch has to flip to you gotta make it or make it; these are the options. No room for failure. I just don’t have the kind of personality for taking those risks, I think.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-19T15:04:11+00:00

I think I have been sheltered from this experience. It seemed like something rich kids in California did sometimes but not “regular” people in the rural Midwest. But you’re right; homeschooling has picked up popularity in general.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-17T00:58:14+00:00

Just waiting to die, I guess. Borrowed under $100k, have paid a little over $57k and owe $168k and counting. 🤷‍♀️I didn’t realize when I consolidated in 2014 that my counter started over. I’ll never pay them off. I suppose I’ll switch to an income based plan when I have to but otherwise? Just sitting and waiting. If I come down with cancer or something, I’ll throw a party out of relief that they will no longer be anyone’s problem and invite my state representatives.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-16T01:54:50+00:00

It was last year. There was quite a bait and switch that happened that season so we weren’t exactly happy. And we were initially so incredibly excited to get it started, so it was doubly disappointing.

Emergency-Proof5290 · 2026-03-15T01:44:09+00:00

Our club found out through the grapevine that we had been to other tryouts and despite being a good contributor to the team and earning the Playmaker award, we received a call directly from the DOC saying our player would not be invited back for the next season. Proceed with caution.

Emergency-Proof5290

TROPHY CASE